Michael Schumacher (merged)

Did you read the rest of the post? You don't lose talent with age,you just go easy on the little risks you would've taken at a younger age. So while you may,for instance,still trail brake your way into corners,you wouldn't do this lap after lap and take it easy a bit. IMO there's also the psychological and fitness factors playing a part-Fisichella and DC were well settled into their respective repuations and were probably a bit sick with the whole thing by the time they retired. MS,on the other hand,is still in top shape at 41-as he was well into his thirties. And he's said time and again that his batteries are now recharged and that he's ready to take up the challenge ahead of him. Mentally ready? Check. Physically prepared? Check.

None of this is true for the above drivers. If you brought Mika back he'd trundle around seconds off the pace-I think it's basically a case of people severely underestimating the effect of the three year break. Not a case of losing talent,just one of getting back into his comfort zone.

Good posts, I think you nailed it. People keep saying, "My god! He's 41, how could he possibly still be good?" Let's think about what the number really means- nothing. It's all down to physical fitness and mental preparation. If these things are maintained, the age is irrelevant. If you had a triathalon event for the drivers, I'd put money on Michael being in the top 3 even at his age, he is that fit. When you maintain your fitness to such an extreme degree, your mental edge remains sharp and your reaction times aren't slowed in the least. Drivers like Mika have let themselves soften since they retired so they wouldn't be anywhere near the pace if they returned tomorrow, while Schumacher is just off it and I think as BRK says it's only because he hasn't had the experience in this particular breed of cars to understand where the last couple tenths can be made up and the risks that need to be taken to achieve the laptimes. He's such a competitive man that he will find those last margins he needs to push, I have no doubts.

Another thing being tossed around is his demeanor, his "softness" in interviews and his conciliatory tone. I don't think it's a sign that he has lost it, it's just reminiscent of 2005 when he knows he doesn't have the car to win so he doesn't carry the same aloof confidence into his interviews and interactions with other drivers and such. If he has the car, I'm sure he'd be his old self.

Do you remember Austria and Hockenheim back to back races in 2000, MS out at the first corner in both races, bascially allowed back in Mika and Mclaren.Those sort of races can be spread out in a season, happen at the start, middle or end, with 19 races, lots of competition, unless he's more unlucky, I think he should be due some finishes in the coming races.

Massa is leading the championship, but it doesn't seem as if he's been the main guy in the first 3 races, but he's finished, and that's important with these cars and rules. I think in a 19 race season, it's gotta be something like 200 points whoever wins the title, and everyone may have to worry about Rebdull if their pace and reliability stays true.

I was just thinking of the races u mentioned there. MS does seem to have these things happen to him in rows and not spread though season reminds me of his 05 start.

One thing that has perhaps not been mentioned is that despite him having difficulties adapting to the car, and despite being put under what is probably at least mild pressure from Rosberg, Michael has not made any real driving mistakes (in contrast to many of the drivers in faster cars). He hasn't overdriven the car, not pushed too much to beat Rosberg, and hasn't foolishly collided with anyone in a relentless desire to pass a slower car.
What I see, is a driver driving well within his margins, not pushing too much, basically getting the mileage and experience necessarry to make a push when he is good and ready. And yet he is passing people at starts, and holding his own during races and he isn't lacking in speed compared to his teammate. Who has passed him on track?
Is this accidental or part of a greater long-term plan? My guess is the latter, considering that he didn't get the mileage he needs from testing, and knows that only quality time in the car will give him the necessarry knowledge to maximize his situation.

Schumacher should be judged after he has 8 races under his belt, only then should we expect some resemblance to his past form.

I for one am confident that he will be a force again, as long as the car improves enough to give him a sniff of the top. Otherwise there is always next year ...

I think that Schumacher is doing a fine job. For sure (haha!) he is not as blindingly fast as in his heydays, but neither was Prost when he came back, or Lauda. Thinking of Lauda... the latter took almost two years to get his aggression in races back... and that was only when was he knew then he had to, to beat Prost and because he knew he had the car to beat.

I am quite sure that if Schumacher feels he has a car he can win to with, his performance will go up a notch. But the same applies for Rosberg...

Good posts, I think you nailed it. People keep saying, "My god! He's 41, how could he possibly still be good?" Let's think about what the number really means- nothing. It's all down to physical fitness and mental preparation. If these things are maintained, the age is irrelevant. If you had a triathalon event for the drivers, I'd put money on Michael being in the top 3 even at his age, he is that fit.

A doctor who is personal trainer of Sebastien Vettel said that when driver is more than 30 he has lower level with some physical areas that are important to driver. He took an example from badmington and tennis in which all the very best players are younger than 32 year old. Nowadays you don't see 35+ guys winning grand slams. Vettel's personal trainer said that slight physical degradation strarts at the age of 30.

A doctor who is personal trainer of Sebastien Vettel said that when driver is more than 30 he has lower level with some physical areas that are important to driver. He took an example from badmington and tennis in which all the very best players are younger than 32 year old. Nowadays you don't see 35+ guys winning grand slams. Vettel's personal trainer said that slight physical degradation strarts at the age of 30.

at Ferrari MS had everything going for him:- car built for him (...not for his team mate)

Could we put that myth at rest at last? There is no such thing as building a car for a certain driver! Already several engineers stated that but fans, for some reason, don't want to listen. Actually there were several Ferraris (for example the 2002 one), of which even Rubens admitted it suited his driving style more than Schumacher's.....

Anti-Schumachers also seem to also forget, when describing the "luxury" that Michael had at Ferrari that he didn't place his behind in that situation right away. When he switched to Ferrari in 1996 the situation was anything but "luxorious". So he worked hard for any "luxury" he enjoyed later! He took part in building that team into that "luxorious" environment (that BTW even today's Ferrari drivers enjoy).

"So this whole Mercedes experience is quite a change for MS... "

No it isn't. He had hard times with Ferrari too when he first went there. Benetton wasn't a Champion car either when he first went there. Having to work for success is nothing new for MS!

Could we put that myth at rest at last? There is no such thing as building a car for a certain driver! Already several engineers stated that but fans, for some reason, don't want to listen. Actually there were several Ferraris (for example the 2002 one), of which even Rubens admitted it suited his driving style more than Schumacher's.....

Anti-Schumachers also seem to also forget, when describing the "luxury" that Michael had at Ferrari that he didn't place his behind in that situation right away. When he switched to Ferrari in 1996 the situation was anything but "luxorious". So he worked hard for any "luxury" he enjoyed later! He took part in building that team into that "luxorious" environment (that BTW even today's Ferrari drivers enjoy).

"So this whole Mercedes experience is quite a change for MS... "

No it isn't. He had hard times with Ferrari too when he first went there. Benetton wasn't a Champion car either when he first went there. Having to work for success is nothing new for MS!

There is building a car around a driver with his preferences.In Ferrari he had that, but this MGP car wasn't built around him. That's why he now has understeer problems, problems which he wouldn't have at Ferrari. Simple.

Lewis Hamilton Formula 1 Michael Schumacher returning despite a bumpy start in the season title race is far off. "For me, making Michael the fantastic and he will improve in the next race - so in no time - nor solid. He is a very difficult opponent for us all, including me," says the British McLaren-Mercedes driver in an interview with the 'Welt am Sonntag'.

Schumacher had in the first two races after his return the occupied places six to ten - in Kuala Lumpur he retired prematurely because of a lost wheel nut. Hamilton is impressed by Schumacher's work, "because it for the long race break delivers a remarkable performance," as Hamilton explained.

One more note: Although I agree with your posts about MS, I have to call you out on your sig-

"2010: Ferrari's downward spiral intensifies.Possibly the beginning of the end."

1 Ferrari 762 McLaren-Mercedes 663 RBR-Renault 614 Mercedes GP 44

Sure looks like the beginning of the end to me, and definitely a clear downward trend from last year1 Brawn-Mercedes 1722 RBR-Renault 153.53 McLaren-Mercedes 714 Ferrari 70

Well that's only my opinion and I stand by it. Like someone once said,I support teams-not paintjobs-and to me Ferrari are not the team that they once were when Michael and co. were still around. Domenicali has been trying to steer the entire philosophy of the team in a direction completely at odds with everything the dream team worked for and achieved. They talk of being principled and expressive,and then they head out and bring Alonso in. Final nail in the coffin for me.

Ferrari may be at the top of the points table,but do you really think they come across as the arrogant,dominant force they once were? Three different winners in three grands prix so far,and the F10 is one of the quickest cars in the field. This despite the fact that they've had more time to work on their car than any of the other three big boys. Then there was the mix-up in qualifying yesterday. Not too long ago this would've been blasphemy! With a car like that,had the dream team still been in place,I sincerely think even LdM knows Ferrari would've had a 3/3 this year!

Just my opinion.

About the other drivers' comments on Schumacher,even Rubens-who probably hates Michael's guts-thinks he just needs more time. I think they full well understand the enormity of the task MS has taken up and are genuinely pretty impressed by the job he's done so far. Most of us are fans that probably race for fun or as a hobby and as such can't imagine ourselves being in his situation-these guys can.

I talked to my father about this yesterday when he came back from his speedway meeting. He was telling me that he spun in the final to avoid another car as he had no chance of stopping in time. He said his reflexes are still good and that he can read what is happening ahead of him just as well as he could years ago. He said his only issue with age is it takes him longer to recover and instead of driving 5 hours racing and then driving straight home he now stays over night ;)

"The best drivers do not rely on reactions. The best drivers use anticipation more than reaction. Anticipation puts them in control, reaction is responding to something not in your control. The best drivers are always ahead of the car, even those drivers whose reactions have become legendary, are always behind the car."
- Mike Lawrence

But apart from that, notice how Schumacher has been getting magnificent starts this year? His reflexes are definitely not an issue.

The fact that Nico again beat Schumacher was more of a surprise this time. Michael looked more competitive in the dry and the mixed qualifying conditions, on past experience, might have been made for him. Schumacher himself didn't think he'd lost it, just felt he hadn't used the tyres properly.

"If I'm correct," he said, "at the moment when everyone was out on the same tyres in Q2 I was straightaway quickest, so my wet weather ability still seems to work somehow. But, basically, from my past experience the rain tyre stayed pretty consistent and so I put in a banker on the first lap in Q3, just to be sure. I started pushing on the next one but by then the tyres were gone and I just went progressively slower. In three years things develop. Bridgestone is now a single supplier and certainly the tyres behave very different."

Doctor Aki Hintsa, former medic to the Finland Olympic team and current trainer of Lewish Hamilton comments on Schumacher's return:

– Do Michael have any disadvantage due to his age? Yes. Age is disadvantage, but experience compensates it in some extent. You can do nothing for the fact that reflexes and coordination start to decrease after the age of 30 years. If you are more than 40 years old they are clearly weaker. In some sport it's even more visible, for instance in tennis and badmington you don't see any fourty years old top-players.

I for one think that Schumacher is doing a very good job. Obviously his pace has not been electrifying, but for some bad luck he would have scored some decent points every race. He fought very hard from the back of the pack for the point he scored in Australia. The season is long and I expect his pace will improve.

Everyone on here that seems to think it is not improving fast enough needs to remember that the only practice he gets is on race weekends. The Schumacher of old got out of the car on Sunday and was back on the track testing like crazy on Monday. His work ethic was just as important as his talent. It was what put him on top and kept him there for so long. That is also a big part of the reason that so few of his race weekend ended with a mechanical failure. He had already wrung most of the faults out of the car. He cannot do that anymore. Couple that with the three year retirement and it is easy to see why it is going to take him time to get back in top form.

Will he enjoy the same success he had before? I doubt it, but the mere fact that he is still racing is enough for me. I think is the best GP driver of all time. I saw him win at the German GP in 2006 and thought that would be the last time I ever saw him race in Germany. Now we all have a chance to see him race and the sport is better for it IMHO. I also think the master still has a few world class drives up his sleeve and I can’t wait to have the chance to see them.

I still think that Agassi is the greatest of them all, but to say that noone came close to Borg is silly. Why exactly are we talking about tennis anyway?

I know it is completely off-topic, but as a tennis fan I just cannot let this comment slide.Agassi as the greatest of them all? He would be lucky to be considered in top 10, let alone named as the greatest ever.

I talked to my father about this yesterday when he came back from his speedway meeting. He was telling me that he spun in the final to avoid another car as he had no chance of stopping in time. He said his reflexes are still good and that he can read what is happening ahead of him just as well as he could years ago. He said his only issue with age is it takes him longer to recover and instead of driving 5 hours racing and then driving straight home he now stays over night ;)

I know it is completely off-topic, but as a tennis fan I just cannot let this comment slide.Agassi as the greatest of them all? He would be lucky to be considered in top 10, let alone named as the greatest ever.

sorry OTthere is no one greatest ever in tennis, but Agassi is among them, very dumb post. You obviously don't know more about tennis than F1.

"Michael's settling in. It's taken him a couple of races to work out how to use these tyres and how the cars work. In the dry over the last couple of days the performance has been better – he and his team engineers have been more competitive and it would have been interesting to see what would have happened in dry qualifying. But both drivers are exchanging set-ups and are both able to take each other's, so I have no concerns. There seemed to be a bit of a myth that when we got the car sorted out for Michael it wouldn't work for Nico, but that's not true."

when you are a kid and he wins everything (and he did) you don't appreciate it as much...I've not seen him race the last 10 years as I live in a different country, but he still manages the odd win...now it's abokut money and he doesn't spend as much as the others.... their $30k to his $1k ;);)

I know it is completely off-topic, but as a tennis fan I just cannot let this comment slide.Agassi as the greatest of them all? He would be lucky to be considered in top 10, let alone named as the greatest ever.

I talked to my father about this yesterday when he came back from his speedway meeting. He was telling me that he spun in the final to avoid another car as he had no chance of stopping in time. He said his reflexes are still good and that he can read what is happening ahead of him just as well as he could years ago. He said his only issue with age is it takes him longer to recover and instead of driving 5 hours racing and then driving straight home he now stays over night ;)

Btw he's blind in one eye and 72 years old..

So yes age does matter but not as much as some make out

I don't want to cause offence but your father is stupid to be racing with one good eye. Why is he allowed to race?

Fry reckons seven-time champion Michael Schumacher will also be raising his game as he gets back into the groove following his three-year absence from the sport.

But the Mercedes CEO insists he has been very impressed by the German's performance already.

"Michael is, for me, quite remarkable," added Fry. "Even this weekend, the level of feedback that he gives is something that I have never seen before - and that is just not in the debriefs.

"When you have the headphones on you hear amazing things – and in qualifying he was driving around almost giving a commentary. The FIA, who also listens, was also very impressed that a driver can do that.

"Every race he is learning a little bit more and it is all coming together slowly but surely, which is probably what you would expect.

"He has taken the disappointment of what happened in Malaysia very well and he is old enough to realise that sometimes these things happen. He has taken away the positives again and I would not underestimate him."

I would Imagine Barcelona onwards would be when we start to see the best of Michael.

I'd like to see him out qualify and out race Nico in China because 4-0 down in both races and qualifying would be embarrasing heading onto Europe if your team mate was Ayrton Senna in his heyday.......never mind Nico Rosberg....

Will the real Michael Schumacher please stand up?!

Oh and its important to remember that Alain Prost returned from a Sabbatical after 18 months off and destroyed Damon Hll in the first 4 races of 1993. 18 months is not 3 years and Hill was quite inexperienced - but time off should not be an excuse that stands for long.

I do wish him well though as F1 is stronger with a competitive Michael Schumacher in it.

Oh and its important to remember that Alain Prost returned from a Sabbatical after 18 months off and destroyed Damon Hll in the first 4 races of 1993. 18 months is not 3 years and Hill was quite inexperienced - but time off should not be an excuse that stands for long.

I do wish him well though as F1 is stronger with a competitive Michael Schumacher in it.

You are comparing apples and oranges. When Prost came back cars and rules haven't changed so much since his "retirement" as they did since Michael retired. Give Michael a car that's similar to the 2006 cars and I don't believe he would be 0-3 down to Rosberg now in qualifyings.....

"- Schumacher has to fight more with understeering because he´s a bit heavier than Rosberg. There is less weight that can be put to the rear with his car."
This also doesn't help Michael, I think weight difference between him and Nico is around 3kg. In F1 this is a lot. And maybe some other small things and in the end they drive different car. Hence the difference in performance.

You are comparing apples and oranges. When Prost came back cars and rules haven't changed so much since his "retirement" as they did since Michael retired. Give Michael a car that's similar to the 2006 cars and I don't believe he would be 0-3 down to Rosberg now in qualifyings.....

when prost came back the tyres had gotten narrower, the wings smaller and higher off the ground, the cars had fully active supension, traction control and anti lock brakes. I'd say thats a bigger change than schumacher has to deal with and many of those things prost had no experience of at all, unlike schumacher with todays cars. He was only off for one year though compared to three.

the cars had fully active supension, traction control and anti lock brakes.

I don't think it was difficult to get used to all those things designed to make driving easier. Especially when Williams was so much ahead of everybody else in that technology.... Like I said: apples and oranges. IMO Schumacher has a lot bigger mountain to climb than Prost had. Plus, let's not forget that Hill was almost a rookie in 1993 (with 8 races under his belt with a small team like Brabham), whereas Rosberg was here in these past 3 years when Schumacher was out and when F1 changed so much....